a brief encounterwith nature
by ilovemirandahart
Summary: Miranda, Gary and Stevie are off camping! who knows whats going to happen! PLEASE R&R or favourite anything really just so i know if people want me to carry this story on or not! thanks and enjoy...
1. Chapter 1

So they went camping, just the 3 of them. Gary drove of course, while Miranda sat in the passenger seat attempting to map read, thankfully they had a satnav with them as well. The map was to be used if they got really lost, Miranda however found it fun flapping about with it in the front of the car and thought it passed the time a bit quicker. Crammed in the back with all their luggage was by far the smallest of them all, Stevie. She sat there watching her two best friends arguing about which way to go, the satnav said one thing and Miranda thought the map said another. In the end Gary won and they followed the satnav all the way to the motorway; they had been in the car for a couple of hours now and Stevie needed a wee so they pulled into the services for a break. "It's great weather to go camping isn't it?" Miranda squealed excitedly. She had never really been camping before and the sun was shining brightly so she was feeling very happy. "I really hope it doesn't rain because that would defiantly not be fun."  
"I really hope it doesn't either," Stevie said through gritted teeth "because Gary didn't put the rain macs in the car!"  
"Hey that wasn't my fault and besides we won't need them look it's glorious." Just as he spoke the sun went behind a cloud and a large drop of rain landed in the middle of his forehead. Hoping the others didn't notice he hurried them into the car quickly before it began to rain harder.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time they were out of the services and back on the motorway the rain was pouring down; the window wipers were smashing against the sides of the windows furiously as they cleared the rain so Gary could she where he was going. Miranda could feel the tension rising between Gary and Stevie as the rain was getting heavier still so she decided it would be a good idea to put some music on, just to calm the atmosphere a bit. They also forgot to bring CDs however so she had to put the radio on, it crackled a bit at first but after a couple of minutes of flicking through the stations she found one with a strong enough signal to be able to listen to it.

For the next half an hour they sat in silence listening to the news on the radio, the rain had calmed drastically and it was now only lightly spitting. With a bit of luck it would dry up a bit by the time they reached the lake district.  
The silence was broken by Stevie, "Miranda could you please turn the radio over? This news is so boring! It's not even really news is it?! It's just random information I could live my whole life not knowing."  
Miranda fiddled with the dials until she found another station with an okay signal, Morecombe and Wise 'Bring me sunshine' blared out the speakers. Instantly Miranda was grinning, she sang and danced throughout the whole song "bring me sunshine...in your smile"  
"In your smile" Stevie chorused gleefully  
"Make me happy all the while"  
"All the while"  
They were singing together now "in this world where we live there should be more happiness...so much joy can you give to this brand new bright tomorrow"  
This song defiantly relaxed the mood again and everyone was much happier now, the song finished and the radio babbled on into more talking "I really love that song" Miranda chirped happily  
"I know you do" Gary said  
"How did you know that?" Miranda asked looking rather confused, she never really tells anyone about her love for slapstick comedy other than Stevie.  
"Your my best friend Miranda, of course I knew" she blushed a little and just sighed to herself 'best friend' she thought 'I wonder if we will ever become anymore than friends?' She knew deep down in her heart Gary was the one for her, she just had no idea he felt the same.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a further 2 hours before they arrived at the lake district. The sun was out now and the ground was reasonably dry so Gary decided to put the tent up right away, the girls offered their help on several occasions but he insisted he could do it alone. After a good 20 minutes of watching Gary put together poles, thread them through the canvas, take them all out and start all over again, they decided it would be best to go for a walk.  
"Gary" Miranda called from inside the car, "we are just going up to the check in desk so they know we have arrived and while we are up there we are going to see what the facilities are like here. Are you sure you don't need us?"  
"No no, I will be fine, you girls go and check us in, and I will have this up by the time you get back. Then we can start to put all our gear in and sort out whose sleeping in which room."  
With that Miranda and Stevie set off for the main entrance.

Gary was alone now; he sat for a moment in amongst the massive canvas sheet that was somehow meant to become their home for the next week. He just didn't know what to do; he had been struggling with this tent for the past half an hour but didn't want to admit defeat because he was worried what Miranda would think. He would do anything for Miranda; he loved her so much he was just too scared to say it. Instead he decided to ask one of the nearby campers if they could help him in any way. A young looking lad, probably around 20 agreed to help Gary put the tent up whilst chatting away to him gleefully. He was from Australia and had come down here for a year to travel the country, back packing just like Gary did in Hong Kong. Oh how he wished he never went to Hong Kong. How he wished he was never foolish enough to marry Tamara for a green card and not even tell Miranda. He lost his best friend for months because of that and it really broke his heart, just when things where moving to the next level with them he had to go and ruin it. He would never forgive himself for being so stupid.  
With the help of the Australian guy, George I think he said his name was, Gary got the tent up in no time at all and was just finishing clipping in the inside when the girls arrived back.  
"Oh wow Gary that looks great! You got there in the end then?!" Miranda was practically galloping the last few meters to camp, she was so excited. She'd never been camping before and she couldn't think of two people she'd rather go with more.


	4. Chapter 4

The tent had two rooms and the a sitting area for rainy days, Gary began to put his bag and sleeping bag in one room while Stevie put hers in the other.  
"What about me?" Miranda said slightly concerned "I can't sleep in this bit can I?!" The sitting area wasn't an ideal place to sleep in, if it was too rain threes a chance she would get very wet and it was much colder out here. "I'm going to have to come in with one of you guys."  
"Bags not me" Stevie screamed, her instant reaction told Miranda where she wasn't wanted but she was disheartened all the same.  
"Well why not?"  
"WIND"  
Miranda was shocked, she wasn't that bad was she?!  
"Well umm...it looks like imp going to have to come in with you Gary...is that ok?"  
"Of course it is Miranda" Gary was trying not to sound too over enthusiastic but he thought this could really be his chance with her.  
He used the electric pump to blow up his air bed and quickly rolled out his sleeping bag while it was still light before handing the pump over to Miranda. "You know, threes a divider that can go up in this room if that would make you feel more comfortable?" Well he thought he'd better do the right thing and ask, as much as he wanted her to say no.  
"Nah, I think this will be ok. More...cosy, I suppose."  
Gary's cheeks went slightly red as he wondered to himself 'maybe Miranda really does feel the same, or maybe he was just looking too far into things? How would he know?' It was Miranda's voice that brought him back to reality...  
"GARY you used up all the battery life in the pump, it's not working! Did you bring anymore?"  
"Oh um, no I didn't. I'm sorry; they were supposed to be long life batteries."  
"Huh long life my bottom" Miranda then broke into fits of giggles because she said the word bottom, before composing herself again and telling Gary that he would have to help blow up her bed the good old fashioned way. Using all your puff!  
"Did you want to go first or shall I?"  
"You ran the pump out you can start" Miranda laughed.  
"Alrighty then I will do half then you can do half"


	5. Chapter 5

Gary of course, being the gentleman he was blew Miranda's bed up entirely and didn't get her to do the second half. He also rolled out her sleeping bag for her and fluffed up her pillow while he watched his two best friends playing Frisbee together. He longed to be able to just go over to Miranda and hug her for no particular reason or kiss her until her lips swell, just because he felt like it, he longed for the days he would be able to wake up to her in the morning and tell her she was beautiful. He longed for the day he had the courage to tell Miranda his true feelings. He felt a single tear trickle down his face and land softly on Miranda's pillow that he was still holding, his arms wrapped gently around it as if it was Miranda herself in his embrace. He put the pillow down neatly and emerged from the tent to see the two girls still happily playing.  
"Right Miranda, I've done your bed. I rolled out your sleeping bag as well, I hope you don't mind?"  
"Oh thanks Gary, that's wonderful. Come and play with us?" Miranda threw the Frisbee at his head and he caught it just before it took his eye out, all three of them burst out laughing. As they continued to throw the Frisbee around, the weather began to cool and they decided to begin cooking dinner.  
"Stevie, why don't you stay here and prepare the potatoes and me and Gary will go and get wood?"  
"Yeah ok sounds like a plan! Shall I just peel and chop them yeah?"  
"I think so, then we can light a fire and get them boiling so we can mash them" Gary butted in. After all he was the chef around here, he would of argued to stay back and do the potatoes himself but he decided going to collect wood with Miranda would be way more fun.


	6. Chapter 6

**An: hi guys, sorry for the late update but here it is, hope you like it :) x**

The two of them wandered off into the woods to collect some sticks for the fire, there were plenty of dead ones on the ground and soon miranda had her hands full so she put the sticks in a neat pile on the floor and stretched out her arms but kept her elbows tucked into her chest, "Gary can you stack those twigs on my arms please?"  
"Yeah sure!" First of all Gary piled on the sticks he was carrying "you can carry these too while your at it"  
"Oi! Whats wrong with your arms?!" She grunted  
"Dont be like that Miranda, we are supposed to be having fun! you hold the sticks and i will pile your arms up then i will carry some myself."  
"Hmm ok then, you still have the better deal though really dont you i mean what if i fall over?!"  
Gary laughed..."well thats almost inevitable really isnt it"  
"RUDE i dont fall over that often do i?!"  
"Well...you are shall we say...the most accident prone out of all my friends and also all the people i know really!"  
Miranda felt her cheeks go red, she hated the fact she always embarrased herself infront of Gary, even though she was always just being herself just the fact it was Gary made herself even more prone to messing things up,  
"Its ok though, you always make me laugh and thats just one of the reasons i love you"  
There they were, those 3 little words they had both been waiting to hear for such a long time.  
"Pardon?! Could you repeat what you just said thank you very much please thank you so to you"  
"I just said that you always make me laugh"  
"No no after that!"  
"Oh...urm...i just said thats one of the reasons i love you"  
Gary was blushing but he hid it well, there had been so many chances he had wanted to say it and didnt yet this time it just slipped out, it was true though, he really did love Miranda.  
Shocked at what she just heard she was rooted to the spot. What did he mean by that?! Did he actully love her or did he just mean it flippantly like she would stay to stevie?! Miranda didnt want to take the risk if finding out because she knew somehow something would go wrong! Instead she did her best to ignore it and changed the subject to avoid further complication. "Oh look its getting dark, perhaps we should head back? Im sure this will be enough wood for now."  
"Yeah ok, i can take some of that if you like"  
Gary moved in towards Miranda, her heart was beating rapidly. There faces were very close and Gary was trying his best not to just thrust his face upon hers and kiss her passionately. He so desperately wanted to kiss her but he was just too scared of what her reaction would be, he wasn't sure she felt the same way. Instead he just looked deep into her eyes and smiled a smile that made Miranda melt. Of course she felt the same but never thought Gary would ever take interest in silly old her, they were just friends right?

It was the sound of sticks clattering to the ground that bought Miranda back to reality. When Gary tried to take a handful from her he dropped a large amount of them on the floor. Laughing Miranda bent down to help pick them up, "you know you can be just as accident prone as me sometimes Gary Preston...perhaps thats why i love you too."


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the campsite Stevie had peeled and chopped the potatoes and was now sitting in her chair reading her book, Miranda and Gary put their sticks down into a pile next to the fire block and Gary got to work lighting the fire. Once again this was a new skill to Gary so he had to give in and go and ask George for help once again. He was only too happy to help and came over and taught the three of them how to light and maintain a decent fire for cooking on.

"First time campers then are we?"

"Using the are we, are we?" Stevie burst out laughing.

"Yes, yes we are" Gary replied trying to take the focus of off the small blonde and back onto the fire.

"Well once you get the hang of it its pretty easy, you just have to practise a bit more, thats all" George found himself incredibly attracted to Gary's small friend but decided now wasn't the correct time to get to know her, maybe in the morning.

It only took George a couple of minutes to get the fire going and excused himself to go back to his own fire to check on his curry, "maybe i will speak to you guys tomorrow or something, enjoy your first evening! Night guys!"

"Night George, thanks for you help!" They all replied

"No problem" and with that it was once again just the three of them.

The potatoes were mashed and the sausages were fried just in time before it got too dark to see, they let the fire die down whilst eating their first outdoor meal, sitting round the fire chatting and laughing away until around 11pm when Gary stood up and said "well guys, I'm off to bed its been a long old day"

"Mmm yes i wont be far behind you, I'm shattered! Before you go to bed Gary can i just get my jammies and wash bag so i can go down to the toilet block?"

"Oh yeah yeah sure go ahead!"

15 minutes later the two girls were braving the long walk back from the loo in the pitch black dark, they had both forgotten torches.

"Stevie, do you think its gonna be awkward sharing a tent with Gary? I mean you know how i feel about him and everything. Its hard enough having a conversation with him sometimes let alone sleeping inches away from him!"

"Hmmm i know what you mean, I'm sorry i should have let you come in with me its just you know what I'm like, i cant stand it when people fart" they began laughing.

"No no seriously Stevie what do i do?"

"Well ok, i suppose it will only be awkward if you let it, so just be yourself and you will be fine!"

"Oh what an appaullingu piece of advice" Miranda giggled.

When they reached the tent they gave each other a quick hug before clambering into there separate compartments, Gary appeared to be asleep so Miranda did her best not to disturb him whilst getting into bed but of course when Miranda's around thats not possible so of course when she sat on her air bed if flew up from underneath her and landed right on top of Gary. They both laughed so hard they cried until finally they both managed to settle down.

"Good night Gary" miranda whispered softly

"Good night Miranda, see you in the morning"


End file.
